Blood
by Soulreciever
Summary: Sometimes, he mused, the tree could be more a help than a hindrance. Slash. AU.
1. Child

Blood.

1. Child.

T: This whole thing started as a random 'what if' in my head and has developed far past the original concept…will muse on this in later chapters, for now I must warn you that this fic is AU, that there will be SLASH later down the line and that this first chapter is stupidly long compared to the others…blame exposition! I own nothing here other than the plot and one other thing that I shall not mention directly for fear of spoiling things!

Oh and _italics_ are when someone is talking to the tree, who, incidentally, talks : as such :

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Occasionally, he mused, the Tree was more a hindrance than a help.

He had thought to eat a long leisurely meal in one of the many little restaurants that were dotted about Tokyo, take a stroll through the sakura strewn streets and perhaps make the acquaintance of an attractive young individual whom could give him a little company and offer a distraction until the dawn came.

He'd just sunk his fork into a chocolate desert of the rich western variety that a man could happily spend hours devouring, when he'd felt the insistent tug of the sakura.

Having learned the hard way what ignoring such a call would mean he's abandoned his desert and, after paying his bill, he had made his way to Ueno…

Only to find that the Tree had called him to extricate a cat from out amongst its branches.

"_I hope you realise just how angry I am with you."_

: I would have dealt with the matter myself but _someone_ has banned me from doing such 'inhumane' things. :

"_Cats cannot provide you with any sort of nutrition, Tree-san and thus you're killing them simply out of spite"_

: And your point is::

"_You begin to sound like father."_

: Of course I do, the bond between myself and the Sakurazukamori is, after all… :

"_I do not wish to hear that speech again, Tree-san, it was bad enough the first time."_

: One day you shall have to stop running from your fate, Orito-kun. :

"_Even if you are right, Tree-san, that day is not today."_

The cat regards him with an air of offended dignity as he lifts it free from the Tree's branches and yet, thanks to a constant burble of soft nonsense, he manages to get the thing to the floor without so much as a scratch .

The Tree thus freed of 'unwanted guests' he thinks to rescue what remains of his Sunday evening and is mulling over the best place to purchase another decedent desert when his eyes catch, and latch onto, a figure moving through the park.

The other is dressed in a crisp white trench coat, which is edged in a deep navy that matches well the rich red of his dress shirt and the lighter blue of his trousers.

The crisp, clean, lines of his clothing is reflected well in the short length of the sides of his hair and offset by the longer, more unkempt, length of his bangs.

No matter the draw of this icy beauty it is not this that had initially drawn his attention to the other.

No, the thing that had first drawn his eye was the shear intensity of the others magical aura.

Such a power he had only ever seen about his father and, curious to see who this other is, he alters his path enough so that a collision between them is all but inevitable.

He is treated, a moment, with a glimpse of the brilliant green of the other's eyes…with the emptiness inside of them…then the other is gripping gently to his wrist and he is consumed by an almost feverish heat.

This warmth recedes as the other releases him again and, before he has time to think over such an action, he enquires,

"Who are you?"

The other seems little off put by so direct a question, indeed he responds to this rude manner by himself enquiring, "Who are _you_?" The tone of his voice as perfect and as ice cold as his general demeanour and appearance.

"My name is Sakurazuka Orito."

Again he is met with the brilliant green of the others eyes and the raw wound within them.

After a moment of scrutiny the other smiles a bitter smile and muttering bowing deeply and says, "I am sorry for bumping into you, Sakurazuka-san and I would ask that your forgive the inconvenience," before he continues in his way.

: It is better that you do not follow him, Orito-kun. :

"_Who was that, Tree-san?"_

: Someone who you are better off forgetting. :

……………………………………………………………………………

It had been nine long years since Seishiro had left his life…since that one terrible moment when he had believed his sister had been taken from him.

Yet, somehow, Hokuto had lived through her injuries and, after a month in and out of a coma, she had stirred the same bubbly individual he had recalled so very well.

She had helped him 'move on' with his life and he, it turn, had supported and aided her as she had fought to set free the man she had fallen in love with.

A year after awaking Hokuto had married this gentleman and, nine months after that, she had given birth to twins.

Assuring that his young nephews lived a full and happy life had become the defining priority within his life and, month by month, he had begun to forget the hurt of the Year, had begun to again live his life.

Occasionally he found himself thinking of Seishiro…found his traitorous heart yearning for one more glimpse of the other's face or utterance of his voice…

Found his feet treading the soft grass of Ueno.

A young boy is climbing the sakura in an attempt to rescue a cat from amongst the branches and he watches the others slow ascent until the very moment his fingers touch the cat's fur.

Thus assured that the feline has been saved he buries his hands into his pockets and thinks to force himself back onto the normal routine for the day…his attention keeps drifting away from him, however and, all but inevitably, he crashes into one of the parks other visitors.

He has time enough to register that this is the boy he had been watching all but a moment before…time enough to register the fragility of the lad's smile…before his fingers connect to the child's wrist and everything freezes.

His body feels so very cold and yet, at his hands is an intense heat of a sort that he has felt only twice before in his life…

Wishing, desperately, to be free of that heat and the memories help within it, he leases his hold upon the boy.

"Who are you?" The question is very brash considering that they have just met and yet, somehow, he had expected such pertinence from this other.

"Who are _you_?"

"I am Sakurazuka Orito."

The surname could, of course, be coincidence and yet…

There is a familiar hazel hidden well in the muted green of the boy's eyes and a certain line in his jaw that is so akin to Seishiro's that this child can only be of his bloodline.

He looks to be sixteen years of age and this means that he would have been alive during the Year…

This fact hurts him in a way he can not quite comprehend and, desperate to talk to _someone_ about the matter, he bows stiffly to the child, apologises, and all but runs to his sister's modest apartment.

Hokuto welcomes him with her normal sunny disposition and, after chatting to him a while about her latest collection, she vanishes into the kitchen with the intent of making him a cup of tea.

But moments after she has stepped from the room he is barraged by two warm, and slightly damp, pairs of hands.

"Good afternoon, Kamui-kun, Fuuma-kun."

"Good afternoon, uncle Subaru." The response comes in an almost perfect tandem, the softer cadence of Kamui's voice but a moment slower than his brother's more confident, voice.

The boys were not, unlike Hokuto and himself, identical twins and already there was a marked difference in both their appearance and their mindset.

Fuuma had his father's golden hued eyes and was of a larger set frame that suited well his outgoing, adventurous, nature.

Kamui had inherited his great grandmother's striking blue eyes and was of a smaller size which tallied well with his gentle, if not slightly meek, attitude.

Of the two Kamui was showing the greatest magical potential and he had already begun to train the child as his successor.

"Kamui-kun has been showing me that water spell that you taught him the last you were here, uncle Subaru."

"I'm not as good at it as you were though, uncle Subaru."

"Continue to practice, Kamui-kun and I am sure it shall come to you."

"I shall try my best." The lad bows politely and then returns back to his bedroom, his brother hard upon his heals.

"Those two are growing up in the blink of an eye." His sister remarks when she steps back into the room a moment later, "Sometimes I look at them and think, 'has it only been eight years since you were tiny enough that I could hold you both in my arms at the same time?' It's sad and at the same time it makes me smile so very hard."

There is a wistful smile of his sister's lips and usually he would have made some idle joke to dismiss it and yet today…

"Something is wrong." She remarks as he presses the tea into his fingers.

"I found myself in Ueno again…"

"It's more than that, isn't it?"

"I met someone there who caused the scars on my hands to burn…someone who claimed the Sakurazuka name and who looked enough like Seishiro-san that he could only be his son."

"I suppose that the Sakurazuka lineage needs an heir just as much as the Sumeragi…"

"He was sixteen."

"I fail to see the significance."

"It means that Seishiro-san had a child during the Year…"

"Why should something like that shock you, Subaru? Sei-chan lied to us about everything else in his life, after all." Each time he hears his sister utter that name with such familiarity he can not help but wonder if it is, as his continued use of the 'san' suffix, simply for habit or if it is because she still somehow sees the other as a friend.

He knows there is an easy way to clear this mystery and yet, as with many other things connected to Seishiro, he is fearful of what the ramifications of her reply might be.

"I do not know, neesan."

Hokuto brushes his hair free his eyes and, after a long while simply staring at him, she remarks,

"You still love him."

"Neesan…"

"Do not bother trying to deny it, Subaru, I know you better than you know yourself, after all."

"It is hopeless."

"Why?"

"Because he is Sakurazukamori, because he's proven already how little I mean to him, because I hate him almost as much as I love him and…"

"And there is another in his life to whom you were before ignorant; a child needs a mother, after all."

"That is correct."

"I do not believe that Sei-chan thinks of you as little more than glass, Subaru…we are both still very much alive, after all.

"As to the rest…the only person who can say what is wrong or what is right for you is _you_ Subaru and thus you are the only one who can decide what you want to do now…are the only one who can decide whether to take this meeting as some form of sign or simply let it be."

"Thank you, neesan." He remarks as he pulls her into a strong hug.

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T: Ta da! Couldn't resist the urge to name Hokuto's children as I did…mainly because it made things easier for me but also because of the snigger value of it! Orito's name is stolen from the yaoi manga 'Selfish Love' but everything else about him is mine! I'll attempt to get the next chapter up on Sunday before I go out but if I don't manage it then it'll be up Tuesday!


	2. Friend

2. Friend.

T: Thus begins the plot proper! Have decided not to bore you with a musing on the development of the plot and to let you just enjoy the thing as it progresses! Thus I say that this chapter has an OC and remains AU but apart from that it is relatively tame. _Italics_ and things inside :these: still mean what they did last chapter! I fear that I own nothing you see here other than the rather ropy plot line!

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One of the few perks of being trained, from a young age, in all imaginable forms of combat was that it had fine tuned his body and had thus made the more physical aspects of his education less of a chore than they might otherwise have been.

It was something that, as a showman, he took advantage of whenever he could and that had earned him a rather sizable 'fan club.'

"Sakurazuka-san, I baked you some more of those oat cookies!"

"Thank you Miri-san, I am sure that I shall enjoy them as much as I did the last batch."

"Sakurazuka-san, I found another book on rare martial arts that I thought you might like to read."

"Thank you Kiri-san, I am sure the knowledge within these pages shall help to fine tune my art."

"Sakurazuka-san, is it true that you are looking to enter the national martial arts tournament that begins next month?"

This last comes from the softly spoken sectary of the security division and the sound of his voice acts as the strangest of deterrents for the crowd.

"Thank you, Takumura-san."

"After years of suffering the same thing I consider it my pleasure, Sakurazuka-san. But as to my enquiry…"

"I am not yet certain as to whether I should enter."

"You are highly skilled in your art, Sakurazuka-san and you are doing well enough in your lessons that it should not be too harmful for you to miss or week or two…"

"I am honoured to receive such praise of my skills from one such as you, Takumura-san and it is true that my school work would not suffer from the time I would need to take away from lessons…"

"However?"

"However, I believe my ties to the city are enough that it would hurt me to break them for even the shortest amount of time."

"Would one of those 'ties' be Kizuki-san by any chance?"

"How did you know about Kamui?"

"I have seen the two of you together occasionally at lunch time and it was clear in the way you treated the lad that you have some affection for him."

"You are an only child, are you not Takumura-san?"

"That is correct."

"Then you shall understand a little of the loneliness that I have felt while growing up…shall understand, I think, why it is that Kamui has become so important in my life."

"The friendship you have found with him has filled a little of the emptiness in your heart…has made you feel as though you are of worth to someone other than yourself?"

"Yes, that is it precisely."

The Takumura bows deeply and informs him, "Do not let anyone tell you that you have made an error in this choice, Sakurazuka-san," before he leaves his side at last.

……………………………………………………………………………….

His lunch is taken, as always, amongst the small cluster of sakura trees that grow in one corner of the campus's vast garden.

His mind is on matters other than his bento, this something his companion notes swiftly and, with his usual polite demeanour, the other enquires,

"Has something occurred today to trouble you, Orito-sempai?"

"I've warned you before about calling me 'Sempai' Kamui-kun."

"I am sorry…"

"I have also warned you about apologising needlessly."

"I shall try my best not to do it again, Orito-san."

The boy's smile is enough to shift a little of his maudlin mood and he begins, at last, to consume his lunch with his usual gusto.

He still can not quiet lay his finger upon how someone so utterly opposed to him had become his one and only friend and yet he has long since given up searching for a definitive reason for his attachment to the Kizuki.

"So what were you thinking about?" He tenses a little at the unwarranted question and Kamui can not help a small chuckle at his reaction. "I may be eight years your junior, Orito-san, but I am not stupid. You used my formal manner and your dislike if it in order to avoid answering my question."

"Your brother becomes a bad influence upon you."

"As I am on him and yet you are avoiding the question again."

"I happened into the company of Takumura-san today."

"Do you mean Takumura Suoh?"

"I do."

"Should not such a meeting be a thing of excitement for you rather than something to bring you distress?"

"It was a great pleasure to finally be able to talk to him and yet the subject he chose for our discussion…"

"So this is to do with that competition again, is it? I thought I had told you that you should go."

"As I told you last time I can not simply walk away from you, Kamui-kun, no matter your assurance that you'll be 'fine'."

"You can not shelter me forever, Orito-san…both for your sake and my own…" The last of the sentence dies in the boy's lips and the guilt in his eyes is enough to show that he has been pressed to say something he had wished to keep secret.

Indeed but a moment later he turns his head a little from him and says,

"It's better you pretend I didn't say that."

"I had thought that we had agreed never to keep secrets."

"It is not a secret; it's simply me being silly."

"That statement is not quite true."

Kamui tenses and suddenly he looks so much older than he should…looks so very unlike himself that Orito wishes that he might take back the last few moments of this conversation.

"I have told you before that I am of an 'influential' Onmyoji family, have I not?"

"That is correct."

"I have recently been told that my powers are likely to mature enough that I shall be the most obvious candidate to one day succeed my uncle as clan head.

"This means that once day I shall be taken from all those I love dearly and forced to endure the succession rights on my own.

"I believe that such a separation would be all the harder to bear if I was as accustomed then, as I am now, to having you at my side…thus would it be better for my sake if you began to lease a little of your hold on my life."

"How do you believe such a thing would benefit myself?"

"You do not need me always there beside you, Orito-san, for my presence would become to you, eventually, as a stone, weighting you further and further down until inevitably…"

"Enough!" It is a show of his upbringing that the word is not shouted and yet there is venom enough within it to start Kamui from the almost trance like state that he had fallen into. "I have no wish to listen to belittle yourself any further, Kamui-kun, nor do I wish to hear you speak as though your path in life has been set merely for the strength of the magic in your blood."

"You make it sound as though refusing such a path is simple and yet…"

"You have a responsibility to uphold?"

"'responsibility' is not quite the word I would use…it is more that I have a want to make my uncle proud…" There is an apology hidden within the words and a guilt clear in the boy's eyes that he knows is there partially for his sake.

"I can understand your want to do well for one you care for, Kamui-kun and I am sorry that I raised my voice against you."

"I should not have said anything."

"Or rather I should not have pushed you to do as such."

There is a long silence and then the boy smiles one of his rare, open, smiles that seem always to make everything right and he enquires,

"You're father is home from his conference today, is he not?"

As far as the entirety of the Clamp Campus was aware Sakurazuka Seishiro was a high ranking official within the government; it was a lie he and his father had built together and that held enough of a truth that no one had yet questioned its validity.

It had also, of late, been a useful way to explain the ling journeys that his father had been taking and thus his absence from various parent/teacher interaction activities.

"That is correct."

"He has been gone longer this time than is normal, has he not?"

"He has."

"Are you not lonely on your own?"

"Sometimes."

The boy considers the honesty of his reply and then he remarks,

"You could always come to my house one day…things there are probably a little noisier than you are used to what with mama's singing and Fuuma-'nii's music, but we are all very friendly and I'm sure papa would offer you the quiet of his study if things got too hectic…"

"I would be more than happy to come and see your house."

"Then I'll ask mama."

The shrill sound of the bell cuts through the companionable silence that falls between them and, shrugging his bag back over his shoulders, Kamui remarks,

"I'll see you soon, Orito-san."

"See you."

: That child shall be your downfall should you allow him any closer. :

'_I believe I am free to make my own mistakes, am I not?'_

: Somehow I knew that you would say something along those lines. :

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T: This chapter is actually shorter than those that come after it, this to make up for the giant nature of the first chapter and also so that I could end on that Semi cliffy! I should have the next chapter up on Tuesday but until then R+R!


	3. Family

3. Family.

T: This is a chapter I'm sure you've all been waiting for! This is all I will say on the matter! Beware the semi cliff hanger at the end but apart from that everything remains about the same warning wise! I own the plot and Orito (who is available for borrowing if you ask nicely!) but nothing else here.

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There is the stale smell of tobacco in the apartment and this, coupled with the smart Armani brief case abandoned in the hall, can men only one thing.

His father was home.

He finds the elder Sakurazuka sat in the living room, his one good eye focused on a newspaper and a troubled frown clear on his lips.

"Something not to your liking, father?"

"It seems that the political situation has become even more volatile since the last I was in Tokyo." The frown vanishes as though it had never been there and tossing the newspaper to the table his father remarks, "Let me look at you then."

He comes to stand before the other and at this angle he can see both his father's healthy left eye and the pearly white of his right.

This eye recalls to him always the one terrible year when he had been completely without his father's company.

That year had served to make him realise how much he needed his father within his life and also to open his eyes to the fragility beneath his father's diffidence.

For the other had come home at the end of that year not only physically changed but also mentally also.

He'd asked, once, as to what his father had done during that year and as to how he had lost his eye…

The cold dismissal he had received had been enough that he had not again enquired after the matter, but had not, as had been his father's wish, served to snuff his curiosity.

"Have you been in contact with any unusual individuals recently?"

The image of the powerful stranger he had met in Ueno flashes briefly in his mind and, curious, he enquires,

"Why?"

"The aura about you is slightly altered."

"Altered how?"

"It feels more as my own magic than it used to."

: Tell him it is his imagination, or construct a story. :

'_Why?'_

: Because he does not need to know of that other. :

'_I suppose that I am still to be kept ignorant also?'_

: Yes. :

Feeling more than a little put out he flashes his father a smile and remarks,

"I've been spending a great deal of time with Tree-san of late and that's most likely why my aura feels different."

"Yes, that must be it."

The silence stretches long enough to become difficult and desiring to change the subject he enquires,

"Where did you go this time?"

"Hong Kong."

"That would explain why you were so long this time…did you find anything interesting?"

"I met a gentleman who is practicing a martial art of a sort I have not seen before and that might be of use to us in training.

"You see it is all down to the positioning of the feet…"

He listens to his father's description of the new marital art with half an ear to assure that he can answer the other if he poses a question, and turns his mind again to the matter of these trips.

His father claimed that they were imperative to assure that they remained at the very top of their game, yet, though this was as viable a reason as any, Orito could not help thinking there was more to it.

It could not simply be co-incidence that the trips had begun after the Tree had had its talk to his father…

Could not simply be co-incidence that his father had begun to wonder after being told such a life altering truth.

He could not begin to imagine how his father must have felt as Tree-san had told him, as gently as possible, that his mother had been all but insane.

: She was not mentally capable of dealing with the 'practical' side of being Sakurazukamori. : The Tree had explained when he had pressed it:: She dealt with it eventually by shutting away her hear and I was content to allow her that escape…in the end it was that acceptance that caused this whole terrible mess, for Setsuka began to believe that I wished my protector emotionless.

: That belief she pushed onto your father and, if that was not enough, she then decided to tell him that the only way to become Sakurazukamori was to kill the previous owner of that title…decided to twist his young mind until he believed this as the solid truth of his world…until he had little choice but to kill his own mother. :

He had understood, then, a little of the anguish that was present now always within his father's eyes…

Had understood and forgiven the elder Sakurazuka's sudden need to be somewhere other than Tokyo.

"…But I fear that I begin to bore you and don't try to deny it, Orito, I see it well in your eyes."

"Forgive me father."

"On one condition."

"What?"

"You can make desert."

"Deal!"

…………………………………………………………………………………

The apartment is a little more modest than he has become used to and yet there is a warmth in the space that makes it seem, somehow, larger.

"Mama is out at a shoot and that means we'll be eating take-away for tea." Kamui remarks as he toes off his shoes.

"Something that I would appreciate you kept between us, for my wife believes that the twins eat healthily when she is away and I would prefer that it remains as such." This comment comes from a medium set gentleman whom, despite the light blond of his hair, can only be Kamui's father.

"Good evening, Kizuki-san, I am Sakurazuka Orito and I am thankful for the honour of being invited into your home." He remarks as he bows as deeply as he can.

"I am Kizuki Kakyo and I would ask that you drop the formality as much as you feel able, Sakurazuka-kun, you are, after all, all but part of this family."

"Thank you, Kizuki-san."

"Come and see mama's studio." Kamui remarks as he pulls his wrist into a gentle hold.

The room in question is full of length upon length of exotic fabric, two perfectly proportioned dressers manikins and picture upon picture of models dressed in very uniquely styled clothing.

"It's certainly a very unique collection."

"Mama says that's why people love it so much."

"Kamui-nii mama said to stay out of her studio!"

"I was just showing it to Orito-san." The lad remarks as he brushes past his brother and back into the hall.

Fuuma regard him with the same wary glare as always and bowing he says,

"Good evening, Sakurazuka-sempi."

"Good evening Kizuki-kun."

The tension between them becomes all but tangible and is broken only by the sound of Kamui requesting,

"Come and see my room, Orito-san."

"If you will excuse me."

"Of course."

The evening flows in a similar vein, Kamui showing him the more interesting aspects of the apartment and he both amused by the others overly eager attitude and a little unsettled by the watchful eye that Fuuma had placed him under.

Despite this slight discomfort he feels at home in the apartment and, by the time the meal arrives, he is settled enough that he has completely let go his previously formal manner.

"Kamui tells me that you are skilled in a number of marital arts, Orito-kun."

"That is true, Kizuki-san; my father worried about me being alone, you see, and so he taught me to defend myself.

"As I've grown up he's updated that training with some very oblique disciplines and thus my skill in this regard.

"Indeed he came back from his conference last week with stories of a very rare discipline that he's discovered while in Hong Kong."

"Would that be the discipline that concentrates upon balance and foot positioning?"

"That is correct."

"The master of that particular discipline is supposed to very secretive…I wonder how your father managed to talk to him."

"You'd be better off talking to father about that."

The front door clicks open and there is a cheery cry of "Tadima" that brings a smile to the lips of Kamui's father.

"It seems that you are about to be graced with the presence of the lady of the house, Orito-kun." He remarks as he gains his feet.

The first thing he notices about the new arrival is the bright violet of her dress and the deep red of the lace that runs about the thing.

The second is the bright green of her eyes and how akin she looks to he that Orito had meet in Ueno.

Her smile has become a little less than it had as she had crossed into the living room and, one hand rubbing absently at the area of skin above her heart, she enquires,

"Who is this then?"

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T: Warned you about the cliff-hanger, did I not? Next chapter up tomorrow afternoon and until then R+R!


	4. Son

4. Son.

T: A bit later than I said, I know, but real life kind of got to me! Apologising with some pictures of Orito (follow the link on my Bio) Warnings remain the same (Forgive another vague cliff hanger!) and I still own only the plot and my dear little Orito!

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She had, for months, wished to meet the boy who could bring a change to her quieter son's demeanour simply for the mention of his name and thus she had all but cheered when Kamui had requested the chance to invite the other into their home.

She had also been a little swifter with her photo shoot in order that she might catch a glimpse of the boy before he returned to his family.

Now, faced with the reality of the situation she was in, she wished that she might have been able to restrain her enthusiasm a little.

For the boy before her can only be one and the same as the boy who her brother had met all of a week ago…

Can only be Seishiro's son.

She is aware that her fingers have begun to rub at the scaring upon her chest and though the nervous gesture unsettles her she can not quite bring herself to stop.

"Who is this then?" She enquires, her voice oddly distant even to her own ears.

"This is Sakurazuka Orito, mama." Kamui remarks, the enthusiasm in her voice as an unsettling reminder of the difficulty of her situation.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Sakurazuka-san." She has only to see the frown upon her husbands face to know that she has not kept the insincerity completely from her voice.

"If you will excuse me a moment…"

Kakyo is not far behind her and once the door to her studio has closed behind him he enquires,

"The surname was more than a coincidence, was it not?"

"Yes."

"What do you wish to do?"

"I do not know."

He pulls her into the warmth of his embrace and, her mind relaxing a little for the security his arms offer, she enquires,

"How does he seem to you?"

"Like any other boy his age and yet there is also a calmness to his demeanour that makes him seem as one more mature."

"I wonder if he has learned such a thing from his father or from his mother."

"I believe that he learned such a thing through their absence."

"What do you mean?"

"Kamui told us once that Orito-kun's mother died when he was still very young and that his father was often away from home."

She recalls the conversation the very moment her husband mentions it…recalls the pain that had been in her son's eyes as he had talked of the older boy's situation and the loneliness that the other must feel.

There are a thousand questions swimming now in her mind, questions she wishes to ask her husband in order to air them out and that are prevented from being voiced by a gentle knock upon the door and the tentative enquiry of,

"Is mama okay?"

"I'm fine; Kamui…work was a little more stressful that I believed it would be."

"We'll be with you in a moment, Kamui." Kakyo informs their son and then, his voice dropping to a whisper, he enquires, "Will you be okay, sweet?"

"I believe that I shall be, yes."

……………………………………………………………………………..

He and Kamui had long since fallen into the routine of spending every other lunch time away from one another and thus he is a little surprised to find the younger boy waiting for him amid the shade of the sakura.

"I thought that you were spending today with Fuuma."

"I am but mama asked me to give you this as way of apologising for being 'offish' yesterday." The lad passes him a rather large box and, a reluctant smile upon his lips, he remarks, "I'd best get back before 'nii-san worries too much."

Once the boy is gone he opens out the box and is met with a sizable container of home made biscuits, a packet of his father's favourite brand of cigarettes and two letters.

One is addressed to his father and he places it, along with the cigarettes, into his bag.

The other is addressed to himself and, weary still of a surprise; he opens it out and begins to read,

'Sakurazuka Orito-san,

Firstly I truly do wish to apologise for my demeanour yesterday…

You look so much like your father and, for the briefest of instants, that similarity caught me off guard.

I can see now that you are not quite as Sei-chan and thus I wished to clear the air between us and start again.

By this point you are most certainly wondering 'how does this woman know my father' and 'who was that man whom I met before'.

The man is, as I am sure you have deduced by now, my twin brother and it was through him that I initially came into your father's company.

As to the details of the year I spent with Sei-chan…as to the nature of the connection between he and my brother…

I am assured that Sei-chan has kept such things quite for a reason and I have no want to interfere with his decisions as a parent, thus I fear I am going to keep my silence.

I ask you to forgive me that choice and the frustration it must bring you and I had want to assure you that I have all but insisted that your father talk to you on this matter.

I ask also that, no matter what happens from today onwards, you trust to your friendship with my son…ask that you never let Kamui go.

Kizuki Hokuto.'

He is, despite the irritation of being kept still form the truth of this matter, smiling by the time he reaches the conclusion of the note; for there is something warming in the casual tone of her words and the gentle familiarity with which she refers to his father.

He re reads the note once he has finished his lunch and this time his eyes catch one particular sentence,

'As to the details of the year I spent with Sei-chan…'

It could not be coincidence that this previously unknown companion to his father had spent precisely the amount of time with hi as he had spent in his longest absence from Orito's life…

Could not mean anything other than that this woman had been with this father when he had lost his eyes…had played some roll in the dramatic change in the elder Sakurazuka's demeanour.

He is swamped by a sudden desire to open the letter addressed to his father…to have this mystery cleared away once and forever and yet…

He wishes also to discard the note…to erase away all evidence of ever coming into contact with this other.

: I will resist the urge to say 'I told you so'. : The Tree remarks, the monotone of its voice as the oddest of comforts.

"_What do I do, Tree-san?"_

: There is no choice now but to follow this thing through and let things go as they will. :

"_In other words I should prepare for the worst?"_

: And hope for the best, yes. :

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T: If you think this cliff hanger is bad wait for the next one! (which should be out Tuesday at the latest) R+R please as every comment bad or good helps me get better!


	5. Father

5. Father.

T: I warned you last chapter that the cliff hanger for this one was a doozy and I really and truly meant it! I'm putting in the warning of slash connotations for this chapter but am hopeful that won't scare anyone off! Apart from this everything else is as it was and I fear that I still only own the plot and dear little Orito.

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He has known, almost from the moment he had seen his son again, that the lad was keeping something from him.

He had also known that this secret was being retained simply through the Tree's insistence, knowledge that had made him a little weary of what the secret actually was.

He had not, even in his wildest imaginings, believed that the secret might be something of this sort…

He had recognised Hokuto's hand the very moment he had seen it and he'd been startled enough by its presence that Orito had enquired,

"Is everything alright, father?"

He had reassured the child as best he might and had proceeded to dismiss him as subtle a manner as possible.

Once alone he'd lit a cigarette and, his fingers trembling just barely, he'd opened the note.

'Sei-chan,

I am sure you are curious as to how a note from myself has reached the hands of a child whom I should not even know the existence of.

The swift explanation is that our children have become strong allies and that I happened upon Orito's existence simply because of this connection.

You are wondering also as to why I, of all people, am writing to you and as to why I treat you still with such familiarity.

There is a simple explanation to this also; I meant what I said that day beneath the sakura.

I consider you still my friend, Sei-chan, even after the conclusion of that year…even after I have learned that you were keeping from me one of the greatest of secrets.

Do you believe me naive because of that? Do you read those words and think me still blind to your true nature?

I am neither naïve nor blind, Sei-chan, this we both known well; for in sparing my life…in wounding me rather than killing me….you have shown that you know at least a little mercy.

Your son, also, has proven to me that you are not as you claimed, for though he too is Sakurazuka he is neither merciless nor emotionless.

I wish to ask you why you lied about such a thing…why you went to such lengths to prove it true…and yet I do not believe that you would answer me.

You have, and always will be, a very private person, after all.

There are things I am sure that you wish to ask me…things that you fear I shall not respond to….and you are, in part, correct in that assumption.

You believe I do not answer because I imagine that you have no want to hear my answers and this is where you are incorrect.

I do not answer because I am, myself, ignorant in this regard.

There is but one way for this all to be cleared and that is for you to break a little of your privacy and to talk not only to Subaru but also to your son.

Orito is, after all, involved enough in this matter that he has a right to know the details of it.

Don't be a stranger!

Kizuki Hokuto.'

He stairs a while at the letter and then, starting a new cigarette, he calls his son to him.

"I wish to hear what it is that you know of this 'situation' in order that I do not cover old ground."

"I know only that Kizuki-san is somehow linked to the year you were gone from my life and that her twin brother is intensely powerful."

"Hokuto-chan did not mention that you had met Subaru-kun."

His son looks a little surprised by the familiarity and it is a show of his restraint that he does not ask about this but rather replies,

"I saw him briefly in Ueno."

"I see." He takes a deep breath of his cigarette and then he says, "By the time I was your age I had been Sakurazukamori for a year and I had begun to feel a little 'uncomfortable' about the role…had begun to feel guilty for my part in what was paramount to murder.

"Yet mother had said that a Sakurazukamori felt nothing and to doubt her word in that regard was to doubt it also in regard to the matter of the succession…was to make her death an unnecessary thing.

"I was torn down the middle and I believe I would have gone completely mad had Subaru-kun not come into my life.

"We met but a week after my 16th birthday, he desperate to rid the sakura of the malevolent spirits that lingered about it and I in the process of feeding a soul to the tree.

"To see a Sakurazukamori at work was is die and yet, for some reason, I hesitated…for some reason I chose to speak to this boy a little before I killed him.

"He was such a pure soul that it seemed wrong to destroy him and I decided, selfishly, to use this lad to settle the confusion within my heart.

"Thus I made a bet with him, scored the mark of our clan into his hands and then let him free.

"It was not long after that that I met your mother and began the friendship that would lead, eventually, to your birth…not long after that that everything began to change." He pauses in order to take another drag of his cigarette and so that he might shift a little in his seat. "When I saw Subaru-kun again…when I felt the pull of the marks I had placed upon him…I thought, idly, to let him go, the game having become, in the interim, less than it might have been and yet…

"Somehow I could not resist the urge to see what my life might become within his influence, or the urge to indulge a little more in the bright light that he admitted.

"In the end it was not a fair thing, for I had no want to loose at my own game and he had lost all recollection of the bet and its terms. But even with the odds so stacked against him there was something in that boy that I needed desperately to protect…something that I gave so much too in order to keep it safe…" He places a hand, then, to his right eye and, curiosity clear in his eyes, Orito enquires,

"Then you lost your eye for him?"

"Yes."

"But why? And why, if you had given so much to protect him, are you now divided from one another?"

"I could not loose this game, not when doing as such meant facing truths I was not ready for, thus I ended it severed all connections with Subaru-kun and then I simply carried on my life with you." It is not the complete truth nor is it as a comprehensive answer to Orito's questions.

However, the boy is involved enough that he can not tell him this entire story and there is a wish still in his heart to keep some of this matter private.

Thus he snuffs out his cigarette and, smiling genially, he enquires,

"As this is the entirety of the tale and as I have a craving for those peach parcels they sell in that restaurant opposite Ueno, why don't we go out for lunch?"

Orito has, over the years, become used to his subtle manner of asking for a change in subject and thus he returns his fathers smile and replies,

"Why not?"

…………………………………………………………………………….

Kamui arrives into the shade of the sakura ten minutes after the start of lunch and coated in a minute trace of dust.

The instant the lad spots him he bows as deeply as possible and falls into a long explanation for his slight delay.

He allows this show to continue for two minutes before he catches a hold of the child's shin and, levelling the other's eye line to meet his own, he enquires,

"How did you get so dirty?"

"I tripped."

"Because you were rushing to get here?"

"Yes."

"Kamui, have I not made it very clear to you that I dislike you being hurt for my sake?"

"I'm sorry Orito-san."

"There is no need to apologise, just take things slower next time, okay?"

"Okay."

The boy settles then next top him and for a while he is content to simply enjoy the warmth of his presence.

Eventually, however, he can no longer contain his curiosity and, as nonchalantly as possible, he enquires,

"What sort of a man is your uncle, Kamui-kun? You've mentioned him many times in passing but never directly and I was a little curious as to why that might be."

"Uncle Subaru is very closed in about himself and maybe that's why I've not talked abut him."

"I shouldn't have asked..."

"No, it's not that at all, he truly is a very private person. In fact I asked mama about it once and she told me 'your uncle was betrayed by a man he cared very much about and that betrayal has made him very wary of the world.'

"It made me sad to hear that and so the next time I saw uncle Subaru I gave him an extra especially strong hug and told him, 'not everyone is untrustworthy.'

"After that he seemed a little less cold and I began to see how he was beneath the ice."

"Did your mother mention how he was betrayed?"

"She said something about the man being someone other that he claimed, why?"

"I was curious I suppose."

He can tell, simply for the slight frown in the centre of Kamui's forehead, that he has pushed far enough in this line of enquiry.

There is, however, another way to gain the information he craves so desperately and after a long moment of silence he enquires,

"Have you ever heard of the Sakurazukamori?"

Kamui reacts to the name as though he had received a physical blow and, the stark maturity again clear in his eyes, he enquires,

"Where did you see that name?"

"In a text book I was reading and I had a wish to know a little more about it."

"All you need ever know is that that Sakurazukamori is a dangerous being who uses its magic to kill…

"That it is everything that the Sumeragi clan…the clan that shall one day be mine, opposes."

His blood freezes and, hopeful that he had misinterpreted the lad's words, he enquires,

"Then you are the Sumeragi household, are you?"

"That is correct."

"Forgive me, Kamui-kun, but I have just recalled that Takumura-san asked to see me during lunch."

He all but runs from the other's side, an intense feeling of something akin to panic clawing its way into his stomach and unsettling him in a manner that he has never felt before.

Kamui's friendship has become the one definition in his otherwise bland life…has become as the centre of his world…

To be told, so very casually, that the boy is his enemy…that Kamui despises those of the Sakurazuka lineage and views them as little more than murders…

He believes that, at last, he can comprehend how his father must have felt as the Tree has told him the truth of the lineage and of his mother's insanity.

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T: Warned you! Next chapter hopefully Tuesday but I make no promises as I'm rapidly depleting my buffer…this shall make no sense to you but trust me it's a bad thing! R+R


	6. Enemy

6. Enemy.

T: Forgive me for yet another cliff-hanger…seems to be becoming a habit with this story! Warnings are the same I still own nothing here….to my anonymous review!

Rosa: I fear it's a habit of mine to make speech a little more formal than it needs to be…I blame my creative writing course for this! I'm glad you like it and I'm actually surprised I've only got a few spelling mistakes considering I'm submitting this without the aid of my wonderful beta!

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Orito-san had been so very pail the last he had seen him and thus his absence from school the next day is as a greater concern to him than it might otherwise have been.

Indeed he is so concerned that he calls an early close to his lunch with Fuuma.

"Where are you going, Kamui-nii?"

"I wish to talk to Takumura-san before lunch is over."

"Why?"

"I just want to be sure Orito-san is okay…he seemed so very strange yesterday…"

"What is it about him that fascinates you so, Kamui-nii? For he seems to me hard and un-remissive."

"When first I saw him that's what I thought also and then the sunlight caught his eyes…you see in the bright sunlight his eyes are almost the same colour as uncle Subaru's and in seeing that similarity I noticed another."

"Which was?"

"That they were, the both of them, hiding an intense loneliness deep in their hearts…"

"So this is about your want to make uncle Subaru happy?"

"I believe it began as such…now…now I wish also to make Orito-kun happy."

"I may not have your ability to see magical auras, nor mama's capacity to understand the hearts of others, but always when it's come to you I've had a 'special sense'…"

"I know and I'm thankful for it…thankful to have you protecting me from danger…"

"Yet you shall not be thankful for what I have to tell you now, Kamui-nii and yet, for my own peace of mind, I have to say it.

"There is something about Sakurazuka Orito-san that I distrust greatly, something in his personality that sets me instantly on edge and I'm scared, Kamui-nii, so very scared that you're going to get hurt…"

"Then I shall get hurt and still I will stay at his side, for there is something in Orito-san that I trust implicitly."

"Somehow I knew you were going to say that…" His brother's face has fallen and he knows then that this is not simply to do with Fuuma's distrust of Orito…knows that his brother is a little envious of the connection that he has with the elder boy.

Thus he smiles brightly and pulling Fuuma into a hug he remarks,

"I will always have a want for you to be at my side, Fuuma-nii, you are, after all, a part of me."

Only once he feels his brother's arms returning the hug does he pull from him and informing the other, "I really have to go," he heads off in search for the campus security sectary.

The Takumura informs him, as kindly as possible, that he had not seen Orito since they had discussed the tournament and that he had most certainly not requested the other's presence the day previous.

It is a revelation that cuts Kamui deeply for, in the long year since he had first met Orito, the elder boy had only ever told him the truth…had, on several occasions, berated Kamui for keeping certain matters from him.

Indeed the other had once told him,

"If we can not trust one another then we have no right to claim to be friends."

Thus, by lying, Orito has placed a doubt in Kamui's head as to the strength of the elder boy's trust in him and as to the validity of their friendship.

He wishes to know why Orito has done such a terrible thing so very causally, wishes to know what he has done to push to elder boy so far from him…wishes, desperately, just to be able to talk to the other again.

Thus he performs the simple incantation to form his Shikigami and, one the tiny sparrow is fully formed, he kisses it upon its head and commands,

"Find Orito-san."

The creature takes flight almost instantly and, after circling him twice, it heads towards the campus exit.

He is so intent upon watching the bird's flight path that he does not register the other following upon his heals…

Thus he is ill prepared to defend himself from the hand that presses to his face and the chloroform soaked cloth grasped within its fingers.

He has time enough to note that his attacker is male before the world falls away from him.

……………………………………………………………………………….

His father had responded to his black mood by 'treating' him to a day home from school, something that had made a little more sense when the elder Sakurazuka had explained his plan for the day.

"We are going to brush up your fighting skills."

"Could we not just do a little field research instead?"

"You know as well as I do that 'field research' always manages to become something else when you're with me."

His father's mind clearly fixed on this course of action he had, reluctantly, submitted to his fate.

When they broke for lunch an hour later he was covered in a swath of new bruises and ached in places that he had not even been aware _had_ muscles.

"You've become lethargic since the last we sparred."

"Whose fault is that? If you'd wanted me to maintain a physical prime you should have sent me somewhere other than Clamp campus."

"It is important that you stretch your mind as well as you physical being, Orito and thus I decided to send you to Clamp campus.

"As to the disadvantages that such a decision has meant for you're fighting ability…the true show of one in our profession is to turn negatives into positives."

He turns to face his father and, noticing the playful smirk on the other's face, he enquires,

"You're trying to get a rise from me, aren't you?"

"Yes and no."

"Which means?"

"Perhaps it is time that you began to commit yourself to the future that awaits you."

He opens his mouth to tell his father, once again, that he has no want to 'commit' to the future the elder Sakurazuka has planned for him, that he wishes, instead, to forge his own path in life, but is stopped by a sudden blinding pain in his chest.

The world wavers a moment and he gropes, blindly, for some means of support.

His father presents his arm as an anchoring point and, once assured that he has settled a little, he enquires,

"What is wrong, Orito?"

"I do not know…" Breathing deeply he forces his mind into a coherent state and, once calmed, he searches for the cause of this pain.

This ache comes not from his own self but rather from an outside source and, for a brief instant, he believes the Tree to be responsible.

He dismisses this idea swiftly, for if the Tree had been at the rout of this discomfort then his father would be feeling it also.

Yet if it is not the Tree, then what is it?

The answer comes to him with a sudden terrible certainty and he all but lunges from his father's grasp.

The world wavers again and this time it is the Tree that provides him with support.

"Perhaps you should rest a moment more"

"No!"

His father comes to stand beside him and pressing a hand to his shoulder he enquires,

"What is wrong, Orito?"

"Kamui-kun is in danger."

"'Kamui-kun'"

"Kizuki Kamui…please, father, you have to let me go…they're hurting him!"

The sharp shock of a spell lances across his body and suddenly everything is falling away from him.

As the last of his self awareness flees he hears his father's voice remarking,

"Do you know who 'they' are or where they have the child, Orito? You need to know your enemy before you can attack, child, this I have told you many times before."

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T: Next chapter Sunday at the latest, until then R+R


	7. Mother

7. Mother.

T: For those waiting for the S+S (and it is on its way!) I fear you have a little while yet both because of the issues that stand between the two Onmyoji and because of the situation they are in…this is actually my one big warning for this chapter and thus I shall tell you that nothing you see here, apart, that is from the plot and Orito, is mine and I'll let you get on with it!

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She listens, as patiently as possible to her brother's impersonal answering machine message and, upon its conclusion, leaves as polite a message as she can manage in her current state.

Her husband watches her slam the phone down with a concerned air and she believes is going to receive another of his 'try not to panic' speeches when a knock on the door stops the words.

She thinks, for a moment after opening the door, that her eyes are playing tricks on her and then her 'guest' smiles and says, "It has been a long time Hokuto-chan," and she knows that she is not imagining things...

…Knows that Seishiro truly is stood at her doorstep with the sleeping form of his teenaged son cradled protectively against his chest.

"Won't you come in?"

She allows him the chance to settle his child down onto her sofa before she furls him into a tight hug and enquires,

"It's been an age since I last saw you, Sei-chan, where have you been hiding yourself to?"

"I've been buried deep in my work."

"I hope that you've been looking after yourself and not working too hard."

"I assure you that I have been maintaining both my physical and my spiritual health."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"It seems you've gotten married since I saw you last."

"That's right! Kakyo's off out with one of the kids at the moment but I'm sure he'll be back in time for you to meet him."

"You have children then?"

"I've got two eight year old sons…Kamui and Fuuma…they're twins but they're fraternal so it's easy enough to tell them apart."

"Kamui has yet to return home, isn't that right?"

"How did you know?"

"It seems that the bond between our children is strong enough that Orito knew Kamui was in danger without the necessity of a brand."

"Then this is not simply a social call"

"No I came to offer my help."

"Might I ask why?"

Seishiro settles onto the sofa next to his son and, placing a hand to the child's forehead, he remarks,

"Never before have I seen Orito loose his control in the manner that he did today and never before have I been forced to restrain him by the force of my magic…before his mother died I promised her that I would give him a happy life and thus it is only logical to ease his distress in this matter and return Kamui to him."

"There is something else as well, isn't there?"

"I wished also to ease the distress that Subaru-kun shall feel because of this matter."

She had not expected so frank a reply and for a moment she can do little but watch the gentle movement of Seishiro's fingers through Orito's hair. Eventually she tips her head to one side and informs the elder man,

"You have changed a great deal since the last we met."

"I have grown up."

"Might I ask how?"

"It is a long story."

"What of the tale of your late wife?"

"Orito's mother was never my 'wife', for she was too independent to be so tied and I was too young for such a commitment. Yet to your question…I will tell you of her gladly.

"As Sakurazukamori I have had to become as one with the darkness of this city and thus, since my succession, I have mixed with many individuals of 'questionable' morals.

"One such individual was a man whom I knew only as 'Saki' and, for some reason that I never knew, he always insisted on conducting our business in tea houses.

"At one such meeting one of the Geisha who was serving us caught my eye and the fascination was enough that I sought her out in order to learn more of her.

"I learned, swiftly, of the fierce independence in her heart and the passion with which she lived the every moment of her life…began to crave her fiery brilliance enough that eventually I paid a small fortune in order to take her from her Okia.

"Once in my home she insisted on being called 'Ying-fa', something that was a little amusement of hers that I never truly comprehended." He places his hands, then, into his trouser pocket and pulls free a well worn rectangle of canvas. "In the months after she came completely into my life we became close friends and, for a month, I pressed for the chance to become something more.

"Ying-fa would always look at me and, setting her cool fingers to my face, she would say, 'you are not yet ready, in the heart of you, to separate the physical aspect of love from the mental and, as your heart has been given already to another, it would destroy our friendship if you pushed further.'

"I did not understand, at the time, what she was trying to tell me and yet, at the end of the month, my mind turned onto other things and thus the matter was laid to rest.

"On the day of my 18th birthday Ying-fa told me the truth of her situation…told me that, by the end of the year, she would be dead.

"Then she smiled in a compelling manner that was uniquely her own and enquired, 'I have want to make some form of mark upon this world before I am gone, Seishiro…wish to live on somehow…do you think you are mature enough now to aid me in such an endeavour?'

"The plea in her words had been so sincere that I could not but agree to help her..." He passes her the small slip of canvas and she is met with a highly detailed portrait of two individuals stood in a relaxed embrace.

One of the two is clearly Seishiro, his face younger than it is now and yet it contains still the dangerous beauty that is as the other's defining feature. The other is clearly Orito's mother, for her smile is directly akin to her son's.

Hokuto studies this woman carefully, her eyes trailing the predominant rise of the other's abdomen, the graceful line of her neck and fixating upon the colour of the other's eyes.

They are almost the precise shade of green as her brother's, something she knows is more than simple coincidence and that serves to ease a little more of her anxiety.

"She was very beautiful." She remarks as she passes the strip of canvas back into Seishiro's waiting hands.

"Yes, she was."

There is a long moment of silence and then, smiling in a manner she recalls far too well, Seishiro enquires.

"How did you and Kizuki-san meant?"

"Well it all began when I had a dream that was not quite my own…"

……………………………………………………………………………..

He presses the button on his answering machine as he passes it and he barely has time to register the shear volume of messages that have been left before his sister's voice cuts in.

'Subaru, would you ring and tell me if you see Kamui on your travels today.' A click and his sister's voice again,

'Subaru, could you call when you get this message, I need to talk to you about tracking spells.' A click and again his sister's voice cuts in, a panic clear now in her every word,

'Subaru, I really need to talk to you. Kamui did not come back from school earlier and it's been long enough now that I'm really scared…' He grabs the phone before the next message begins and dialling his sister's number he waits, impatiently, for her to pick up.

"Kizuki desu."

"Neesan, have you Kamui yet?"

"No."

"Give me two minuets and I'll be there."

"I need to warn you that…"

Whatever she had been about to say is cut off as he sets the phone to the hook, there will be, after all, time enough to talk of such things once he is at the apartment.

His sister looks less traumatised than he believes she might and, suddenly very weary, he enquires,

"Have things settled themselves out?"

"No, they have not."

"Then why are you so calm?"

"Because I know now that he is, at least, alive."

"How?"

"It is best that you come in."

As he crosses into the apartments compact living room he is met first with the sleeping form of Seishiro's son and then with the man himself.

He feels his every muscle freeze into place…feels his traitorous heart swelling and hears himself utter the other's name in a painfully childish manner.

Then Seishiro smiles and he feels his body relaxing…feels time flowing again about him.

"It is good to see you again, Subaru-kun."

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T: You will most likely wish to strangle me right now so I'm legging it! Please R+R and you'll see the next chapter Tusday.


	8. Scars

8. Scars.

T: This chapter is a little shorter than those previous mainly because it is my problem chapter for this fic…thus beware the possible drop in standard and don't worry I'm back on form for the next chapter! The things in the **smaller bold type **are memories and the _smaller italic_ is inner thought…trust me will make sense when you read the chapter! Nothing here is mine apart from the plot and Orito.

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The shrill sound of the telephone eventually interrupts Hokuto's tale of her romance and aids also to dispel the levity that the other had fallen into.

Her face hardening into a maturity that suits her features well, she crosses the room and lifting the thing to her lips remarks,

"Kizuki desu." The relaxing of her boy tells him that it is not, as she had feared, the kidnappers, but rather some other individual.

She is 'talking' to her caller for but a minuet before she is setting the phone back onto the cradle.

"Subaru is on his way over."

This information sends a small thrill through his body and smiling he enquires,

"Do you wish me to leave?"

"It would not feel right of me to ask you to move Orito-kun again and we both know that this meeting was all but inevitable."

"Things may become a little strained."

"I know and yet still I will not ask you to go…_I_ want you here even if he doesn't."

Hokuto returns to her tale at that and she has just reached its conclusion when he feels a familiar pull on his magical senses,

"He is here." He remarks as a knock on the door sends Hokuto from the room.

Subaru has changed so very much from the last he had seen him…has grown into an all but unattainable beauty…and for an instant he can do nothing but stair.

Then Subaru whispers his name, the sound so heartbreakingly sincere that he can not but smile.

"It is good to see you again, Subaru-kun."

The uncertainty in the other's eyes hardens into a sharp anger and turning to his sister he enquires,

"What is _he_ doing here?"

"Sei-chan has come to offer his help."

"And how, pray tell, did he know that you needed help?"

"Because I told him Kamui was in trouble…because I can feel every moment of his pain and how very scared he is…" This last is Orito, the last remnants of the sleeping spell that his father had placed him under showing clearly as a fatigue in his eyes. "Forgive me, Kizuki-san…if I had but stayed at his side rather than running from him as I did…"

Hokuto crosses the space and, leaning down, she presses a soft kiss to Orito's forehead.

"You can not blame yourself for what has happened…you are, after all, not the one who has taken Kamui from us."

"No and yet I might as well have been."

It is disconcerting to see Orito so completely over whelmed by despair if only because he knows he can not help his son free of this emotion…knows that he can do nothing other than hope that Hokuto will be able to turn his child's misery around.

Subaru has, until this point, remained in the arch of the doorway simply watching things progress from afar, yet as his sister opens her mouth in order to further comfort Orito he too comes to kneel at the boy's side.

"Would you give me permission to cross into your mind?"

"'Cross into' my mind?"

"It is an old magical technique that has been passed down through my clan for generations and through it I might be able to establish some form of a link with Kamui."

"Then I give you my permission without hesitation, Sumeragi-san."

He wonders how his son had learned the truth…wonders how he had reacted to the news and he makes a note to pose these questions to the child. For the moment, however, there is a more pressing matter to attend to.

"No matter your skill, Subaru-kun it shall not be an easy thing to breach through Orito's defences."

"Yet I have to try."

It is, of course, the expected response and smiling he remarks,

"You are still very cute, Subaru-kun."

The other flinches at the comment and yet he resists the temptation to retort, this another clear indication that the Onmyoji has grown greatly since their last encounter.

It seemed he was in for an unexpected, yet welcomed, challenge.

………………………………………………………………………………

He has uses this spell only twice in his life and on each occasion the other participant has been both unconscious of his 'invasion' and all but magically inept.

Thus working the spell upon one aware of his presence and of a unique magical strength, poses a new and interesting challenge.

It little helps that he can not quite snuff his curiosity in regard to his 'host' and that he is thus continually distracted by the memories that are passing by him.

It is a distraction that fades when he becomes snared into a particularly strong memory…

…**Kamui stands a little before him, his face pulled into a visible look of distaste and his mouth forming the conclusion of a sentence,**

"…**it is everything that the Sumeragi-clan…the clan that shall one day be mine…opposes."**…

The sharp stab of that admission is almost as an electrical shock and it severs to rouse an overwhelming guilt in his 'host'.

'_I should have weathered this discomfort…should have placed a greater faith in Kamui's friendship.' _ This is his 'host's' internal voice and the shear force of the emotion within it overwhelms him.

: Caution, Sumeragi, if you loose your concentration then you shall be lost. :

He knows, though he has never heard it before, that this is the voice of the tree and it's black emotionless serves to bring back a little of his clarity.

: I wish to help you, Sumeragi…wish to assure Orito's happiness…but to do as such I need your cooperation…need you to give yourself over to me. :

He smiles and, stretching his hands out, he says,

"_I am already yours."_

He seems the scars on his hands begin to burn…feels a sharp agony sweep him and then he knows no more.

………………………………………………………………………..

She watches, unmoving, as the backs of her brother's hands begin to bleed…watches, frozen, as he collapses onto the floor…

It is only when her ears register the sound of Orito screaming that she comes back to herself…that reality comes flowing back in.

Seishiro has, by this point, placed his son back into a deep sleep and has leant over to inspect the wounds on Subaru's hands.

"What happened?"

"Backlash is the best bet and yet we shall have to wait to see if that is indeed the case." There is a distance clear in the other's voice and, though she knows there are other, more pressing, concerns, she can not but enquire,

"Are you not worried?"

"Subaru-kun has suffered more sever injury than this and survived."

"What of your son?"

The other tenses and she knows then, beyond doubt, that he has changed…that he is more than she had come to believe him.

"Tree-san will have assured that no real harm has come to him."

"And that comforts you, does it?"

"It is more a comfort to me than the thought of Orito relying on myself for aid."

"Why?"

"Because of what I am, because of what I have done and because of what I would ask of him."

She can think of no way to reply to this and the silence draws out enough to become uncomfortable.

Eventually Seishiro leases his hold upon her brother's hand and smiling genially he enquires,

"Might I bother you for a cup of tea?"

Thankful for the distraction both from the difficult silence and her worry, she returns the other's smile and enquires,

"As it's going to be a while before Subaru is awake why don't I bake us a cake as well?"

"Would you care for a hand?"

"You can mix the icing"

"Sounds perfect."

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T: Da dah! Next chapter will be Sunday that the latest and until then R+R


	9. Past

9. Past. 

T: Only four more chapters left to go if it makes anyone any happier! That and the slash warning is going up (at last!)…apart from that though everything remains as it was and I still fail to own anything other than the plot and Orito.

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The instant that Sumeragi-san's fingers connect with his forehead he feels 'uncomfortable'…

It is a sensation that continues to progress until it is painful enough that a cry escapes his lips…

At that moment Sumeragi-san's hands are replaced with the more familiar sensation of his fathers and again the sharp shock of a spell tingles across his body.

The last time this spell had drowned him completely and from the moment of its casting until the moment of its fracturing he had been completely unaware of himself.

This time, however, he remains, briefly, in enough of a cognitive state that, when the fuzzy image of a dream appears before him, he knows that it is not his own.

The scene is a familiar one and, watching its progression, he feels a warm content lift his heart.

A group of boys are pushing and teasing the dreamer, their words as a knife to his fragile heart.

A spark of a simple spell passes over head and the group splits down the middle.

Clear now in the divide is his own face, a little younger than it is now and twisted into a mimicry of his father's empty smile.

"I believe you were just leaving, were you not?"

The gaggle looks to one another and, as one, they run from the scene.

His dream self steps towards the dreamer and extending his hand he enquires,

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, thank you…"

"My name is Sakurazuka Orito and it was my pleasure…"

"I am Kizuki Kamui." The dreamer remarks as he extends his hand out.

At the instant of contact Orito is met with a flash of images both of the present and of the past…

…Kamui lying, unconscious, upon the floor of a darkened cell, blood clear upon his face…

…Kamui's first hesitant introduction of his twin and the instant distaste in Fuuma's eyes…

…Kamui's kidnapper crouched over the boy, his lips forming words can not hear…

…Kamui casting a spell in order to find him, the concentration upon his Shikigami enough that he senses his attacker a moment too late…

As his father's sleeping spell finally begins to swamp his awareness he hears the kidnapper's words and wishes, with the strongest of sincerity, that he had the strength to fight the spell…

That he might, somehow, magically transport to Kamui's side.

"_When your uncle contacts you tell him that you are surrounded by an intricate spell that, when activated, shall cause you to die in a slow and painful manner…one whiff of the police or a sign of a rescue and I will trigger it._

"_For now do nothing, I'll contact him by phone when the time is right."_

…………………………………………………………………………………

The pail blue of the wallpaper that greats him as he awakes is a quick tell that he is in his sister's apartment.

The reason for this remains illusive until he raises his hand to brush his hair from his face and feels the course texture of bandaging.

Aware that Hokuto needs him with her he pushes himself, as gently as possible, into a sitting position and is greatly annoyed when, but a moment later, his head is again pressed against the pillow.

"There has just been a great toll placed upon your body and thus you would be best to let it rest, rather than attempt to push it further."

If he twists his head a little to the right he can just see Seishiro's face, the smile that is on his lips ill befitting the concern in the other's voice and thus clearly little more than an illusion.

"Why should my welfare matter to you?"

"Because I care for you."

"Why lie about such a matter, Seishiro-san?"

"It is not a lie."

"Even if I trusted you enough to believe that, there is still the matter of your son between us."

"Would you have preferred me to bring my child into the Bet also? To use both Orito and the tragic story of his mother's demise to goad you into pitying me further?"

"I would have preferred that you had never started the game…if you had simply let me go."

"Yet I could not do such a thing."

"Why? Why choose me, why create such a pointless Bet and why did you not simply kill me at the end of it?"

"I was drawn to you and that is why you were chosen, the Bet was not as pointless as you believe and I did not kill you because, in reality, _I _had been the one to loose."

He wishes both to believe in these words and to discount them as little more than a continuation of the game…wishes both to trust Seishiro implicitly and to discount his every thought, word and action.

It is a division that he knows can not easily be resolved and that he has no want to dwell upon when there is a more important thing to consider.

"Has neesan heard from the kidnappers?"

"No and I take it from that question that the process was unsuccessful."

"I fear so."

"Might I ask why?"

"I am not certain but it was most likely that I was not quite strong enough to maintain the spell for the time required to connect to Kamui."

"What of the opening of your scars?"

"Orito's emotions were strong enough that they threatened to engulf me, a threat that I was saved from merely for the intervention of the Tree."

"I see."

He had expected another display of Seishiro's 'concern', this more intense than the last and akin enough to the displays of affection that the Sakurazuka had shown during the Year, that he would be in no doubt to its falsity.

Thus the quiet acceptance of the matter is unnerving and he is filled with the sudden compulsion to spark another argument between them, if only so that things might be restored to a surer footing.

"I've unsettled you."

He tenses and the laughter that spills from Seishiro's lips is so very sincere that he turns his head in order to look at the others expression.

He is not completely surprised to see that, while he has had his back to the other, Seishiro has moved a little closer to the bed.

The genuine emotion clear in his one remaining eye is, however, unexpected and for a long moment he can do nothing but stair.

Eventually he finds his voice and enquires,

"What do you find so amusing?"

"How shocked you were that I knew your thought process."

"It is a little strange to be amused by such a thing, is it not?"

"For you, perhaps, but for myself…" He pulls his chair as close to the bed as possible and, leaning forward, the other places a hand to his forehead. "I am amused that you believe that you are as a stranger to me and I am amused that, for a while, I also believed as such.

"Yet, it seems that though your eyes are closed from me, I can tell still your most intimate thoughts…can sense your emotive state simply by reading the tension in your mussels; something for which I am infinitely glad."

"Why?"

"Because I never wish you to become as an unknown thing to me and because I have no wish for the year we spent together to have mean nothing."

"That makes no sense."

"I know and yet I believe it might do if only you gave me another chance…if only you would allow me back into your life even for the briefest of moments."

"You have betrayed me once before, Seishiro-san...used me and tore away my heart as though it were little more than garbage…

"Thus to allow you close again… to open myself up to the possibility of being hurt as such again…"

Seishiro leases his hold upon his face and, a false smile again on his lips, he remarks, "Of course…I understand," before he gains his feet and heads for the doorway.

He cannot allow Seishiro to step so swiftly from his life, not when there is a possibility that the other might be as he had initially believed him and, fighting away his dizziness, he comes to the other's side and pulls him into a hug.

"Though it is a difficult thing to do, though it is more than likely foolish, I wish to trust you…wish to hope that perhaps together we can learn to understand what you mean by those words."

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T: Seishiro's basically saying that he does not regret getting to know Subaru and that he wishes to continue on learning more of the other…it's something I'm sure those two will figure out as they go along! Next chapter will be up Tues as I have a party Sat night and will be spending Sunday in bed! Until then R+R


	10. Truths

10. Truths.

T: No comment on this chapter apart from a reassurance that all warnings remain as they were and nothing bar the plot and dear Orito is mine.

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He had, eventually, convinced Subaru to get a little more rest and, once he had been assured that the other was asleep, he'd decided to check upon his son.

Hokuto had, at some point between cleaning the mess they'd made in the kitchen and retiring to bed for a 'power nap', dusted off an old mattress from her store cupboard and set up a make shift bed for Orito in the gaudy surroundings of her studio.

The mattress was small enough that, even curled in on himself as he was, Orito did not fit it completely.

It is an odd reminder that his son is no longer a child and it puts him in the oddest of moods.

: Is it not usual to feel saddened to know that your child is growing beyond the need of you::

"_For others, perhaps, and yet for myself…"_

: You are not your mother, Seishiro-sama and your son had grown up well in your influence. :

"_He has grown well in_ your _influence, Tree-san…all I have ever done is run from him and press him into a life that should not be his."_

: You have not been running away, Seishiro-sama, this we both know well and as to the other…

: Overt the many millennia that I have existed my guardians have found a thousand different ways to validate and to perform their task.

: For example, your mother turned her heart into ice and you have always made it as a part of the elaborate illusion that surrounds you.

: Thus though it is true that Orito can not be to me as you are, it is not true that he is ill matched for this fate…:

"_Whether by my means or by his own it is still murder, Tree-san."_

: I could tell you that it is more a dealing of justice and yet I am assured that you would accuse me of 'sugar coating' the matter.

: Thus I will say only that he loves you Seishiro-sama and that he wishes you to be always in his life, no matter what such a want might mean for his destiny. :

"_You grow sentimental in your old age, Tree-san."_

: And you grow insecure. :

His maudlin mood thus all but dispelled he settles down onto his knees and, placing his hands to his son's forehead, he mumbles the incantation that shall pre-emptively lease Orito from the sleeping spell.

His son wakes with a start and looks so disillusioned that he feels compelled to say,

"It's all right son, you're safe."

The child's eyes search out his and, after a moment of silence, he enquires,

"Father?"

"I fear so, child. What has gotten you into such a state?"

"I had a dream that was not quite my own and then I saw Kamui-kun…there was so much blood about him, father and the place they were keeping him was so dark…"

He knows that, at some point, he shall have to decipherer precisely how his child had managed to hijack Subaru's spell and yet, for the moment, there are more important matters to focus upon.

"Take a breath, Orito, and tell me as such as you can about the room that Kamui-kun was in, the kidnappers and the child's state of health."

"Should we not wake Kazuki-san?"

"And raise her hopes unnecessarily? No, it's best to let her get her sleep and wake her when we have something concrete to tell her."

"The room in which they were holding him was very damp and the quality of the light was of the sort you would see in a cellar…there was the smell of stale alcohol in the air, not the strong stench of bear but rather the more subtle aroma of fermenting wine…A train passed by somewhere near, the unique rhythm of its passing making me sure that it was destined for the subway…there was also music playing somewhere above us.

"I saw only one man, but I think that we can assume that there are, at least, two others involved...they have magic enough that he was confident about sensing any magic aid we might send to Kamui and to set up a magical trap to hurt Kamui once that aid reached him."

"Do you know this because he saw your presence within Kamui?"

"Thankfully he is not that gifted, it is rather that I know these things because I overheard him passing a message to Kamui that was intended for Sumeragi-san."

"What else did he say in this message?"

"That he would be in contact and that, until that time, we were to do noting."

"He is overly confident in his mastery of the situation and I believe we might be able to find a way to turn that fact to our advantage."

This statement is enough to push away a little of his son's worry and to coax a smile onto his lips. It is a contentment that does not last long for, after a moment of silence, the child inquires,

"Why did you not tell me that Kamui was of the Sumeragi bloodline?"

"Of what use would such a truth have been to you, Orito?"

"If I had heard it from you rather than Kamui I would have had chance to come to terms with it…would have had chance to accept it before I saw him again…as it was…" His eyes slide closed and, a frown creasing his forehead, he remarks, "As it was I was taken by surprise and I reacted in a very immature manner…scared him enough that he left the safety of the campus to look for me and thus made himself vulnerable to this attack."

"I had hoped that you might remain ignorant of the truth…had hoped that you, at least, might retain the innocence of your friendship with Kizuki-kun."

"Kamui-kun told me that his uncle had been betrayed by one he had cared very much for…someone who had been 'someone other than he claimed'…might that be you?"

"Two days before the conclusion of the Bet that I had made with Subaru-kun I came between him and a woman whom had intended to kill him…lost the use of my right eye for his sake…in that instant I knew that I had lost.

"Such a realisation unnerved me, because by caring so intensely about one being I was making myself vulnerable and because I feared what that care would mean for Subaru-kun's future.

"Thus I made a very selfish decision and forcefully pushed Subaru-kun from my side…lied to him about the strength of my attachment, betrayed the faith he had placed in me and tore away his heart…

"It should have been an end to it and yet I had over looked Hokuto-chan's attachment to her brother…had not thought through how such a choice would affect her…

"She came to me beneath the sakura…offered me her life to pay for Subaru's and, trapped by my own lie, I could do nothing but accept that trade…"

"Yet Kizuki-san lives still."

"That is because I hesitated once again…because my 'weak' heart would not allow me to pull the killing blow against one whom I thought of still as a friend.

"It was a hesitation that, for three years, I berated myself upon…that I wished so desperately to undo…then Tree-san told me the truth about the lies mother had told me and suddenly I was glad that I had done as I had…

"For, you see, if I had actually killed her then Subaru-kun would never have forgiven me…would have twisted his heart against me."

"Then the hurt you felt for Tree-san's revelation was for Sumeragi-san's sake?"

"It was also, partially, due to the dissolution that I felt upon discovering that the very foundations of my life had been illusionary.

"I wish to apologise for how I reacted to that hurt and I must apologise also for wondering so far from your side with such regularity…it is just…

"When I learned the truth I felt waited again by the lives I had stolen away…felt suddenly so very inadequate…and again I chose to take the selfish path…chose to look for a way in which I could rid myself of that weight and become again confident in my self worth."

"Then that is why you have been travelling?"

"Yes."

"Have you found what you were searching for?"

He smiles at that and, pulling his son into his arms, he enquires,

"How could I when what I was looking for was not 'out there; but rather 'right here'?"

Orito submits, willingly, to the hug and, a childish smile on his lips, he remarks,

"You're becoming sentimental in your old age."

"Something that you are not the first to comment upon today."

"Tree-san?"

"Tree-san."

His son begins to laugh, the sound a free thing of a sort that he has not heard in months and that is infectious enough that soon he too is laughing.

It is a joy that lasts until the telephone begins to ring, at which point both the laughter and the levity it had brought, are snuffed out.

"I'll answer it."

"And I'll go and wake Kizuki-san and Sumeragi-san."

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T: Next chapter Sunday at the latest until then R+R


	11. Plan

11. Plan. 

T: Still nothing witty to say about the chapter or the story in general so strait onto the boring bit…warnings remain the same and I still own only Orito and the plot line.

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His father is clearly displeased by whatever the kidnapper has been saying while he has been fetching the two other occupants of the house for there is a frown clear on his forehead.

The expression fades into a fixed smile as Hokuto-san enters the room and after informing the kidnapper of the situation he switches the phone output onto the speaker.

"I am pleased to see that you have taken my threat seriously and that you have not attempted anything foolish.

"I would ask, before we get to the 'meat' of the situation, that you do not let that intelligence go…it would be such a shame to spoilt such a good beginning, after all.

"I wish to make you an offer, one that I am certain you will not refuse…I will return the child to you unscathed if the Sakurazukamori will submit willingly to my command.

"I will give the details for the exchange of 'prisoners' in a moment, but first I believe you require some assurance that your child is unharmed." There is a brief moment of silence and then Kamui's voice enquires,

"Mama?"

"I'm here sweet!"

"It's very cold here mama and it smells nasty…"

"We'll get you out soon pet, I promise."

There is another brief moment of silence and then they are hearing again the kidnapper's brusque tone.

"I believe that is enough to satisfy you. At midnight tonight there will be an unmarked white van waiting outside the Shinjuku high rises to pick the Sakurazukamori up.

"Once we have him in our care we shall return the child to you."

"What guarantee do we have?"

"You shall have to trust me, Kizuki-san and yet if you feel that you can not do that…"

"I did not mean to sound suspicious, please forgive me."

"I am glad that you retain still your intelligence, Kizuki-san, for it means that there shall be no need to make this matter overly complicated. It means also that I should not have to explain to you what will happen should you decide to turn this offer down…" The line dies and, a moment later, Hokuto-san looses her composure.

"How can he be so calm? How can he listen to the terror in Kamui's voice and talk about him as though he is merely and object to be traded?"

"Years of carefully practice." There is an odd note in his father's voice that he does not quite comprehend but that Hokuto-san responds to by pulling the elder Sakurazuka into a tight hug.

"You are not like him, Sei-chan…" his father opens his mouth to object and Hokuto-san cuts him off by saying, "You have always done things in as direct a manner as possible…have always faced the risks of your profession head on…that man is little more than a coward who has taken Kamui because it was the easiest path to his goal."

"As to that goal…"

"I will not give him what he wants."

"But if you deny him your son's life will be forfeited."

"We shall find another way, Sei-chan."

"I will go."

All eyes turn to him and there is a long, uncomfortable, moment of silence before Hokuto-san remarks,

"He asked for the Sakurazukamori Orito-kun."

"I can wrap myself into an illusion that shall make me look like father both physically and magically…"

"Yet to make such an illusion convincing you would need more power than is currently within your grasp."

"Tree-san shall lend me a little of its strength."

"But of what use would such a deception be?" Hokuto-san enquires.

"They are overly confident in their power, something that we can manipulate now to our advantage, for I am assured that, because of that confidence, they will come in force to greet their captive.

"Thus all I need do is keep them 'occupied' long enough for father to find Kamui, break the spell that holds him and bring him home."

"Yet we do not know precisely where the child is being hidden."

"Something I can amend fairly swiftly." The last is Sumeragi-san and the elder Sakurazuka has but to look at him for the other to remark, "There are enough clues in Orito's 'vision' that I can deduce that Kamui is being kept somewhere in the North of Tokyo and with a quick 'sweep' of that section I should be able to narrow that down to within a one mile radius of Kamui's location."

"How did your reach that conclusion then?"

"Orito heard the very specific rhythm of a subway train which means the kidnappers could only be located near where the lines run above ground.

"A subterranean room along with the music he heard would suggest a night club or a bar and the wine would suggest a more sophisticated pallet.

"There is a collection of 'up market' bars to the North of the city that would match all these Criteria and that would not turn down the opportunity to make a little money on the side."

"I can not allow you to risk yourself, Orito-kun…"

"There is not a great risk attached to this idea, Hokuto-san and even if there were I would undertake it gladly if it means Kamui's safety could be assured."

Hokuto-san smiles and, leasing his father at last, she crosses over to him and, standing on tip toes, she places a kiss to his forehead.

"If you feel like that then I shall not argue with you any further, I have, after all, learned such a thing is pointless when your opponent is a stubborn Sakurazuka."

…………………………………………………………………………….

Orito and Hokuto had secreted themselves away in Hokuto's workroom with the intent of making the illusion 'more convincing; and Subaru had shut himself into the guest bedroom in order to cleanse his mind before he conducted his 'sweep'.

He had spend this unexpected alone time examining the objects dotted about Hokuto's living room and plotting his rescue mission in as precise a manner as possible with such limited intelligence.

Subaru is the first to return to the living room, the toll of the spell he had preformed showing clear in his face.

"You shall not have taxed yourself."

"I will recover swiftly enough and it has been worth it."

"Then you have him?"

"I have it down to the square mile that I had predicted and I could have gotten it even closer but…"

"You fear detection?"

"Precisely."

"Where am I looking?"

"I'll show you on a map just before you leave." He remarks before he settles himself down onto the sofa.

Seishiro has just claimed the empty space at Subaru's side when the door to Hokuto's study clicks open and its occupants immerge.

Hokuto has decked Orito out in a suit that is, cut for cut and fabric for fabric, a perfect replica of the one he is currently wearing and his son has adjusted the pace of his gate in order to better match his own. The illusion is completed by a complex spell that has made his child's features as a mirror to his own.

"How do I look?" his son enquires, his voice also dipped to mimic his own.

"I feel as though there should be a sheet of reflective glass between us."

"Have you managed to narrow the search area down, Sumeragi-san?"

"I have indeed."

"Then let's get this over with, shall we?"

He can not quite shake the dread that balls into his stomach as Orito steps from the apartment and, not even the Tree's insistence of:: He'll be fine, Seishiro-sama…: can not quite shake this apprehension.

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T: forgive the cliff hanger! Next update Tuesday until then R+R


	12. Trap

12. Trap.

T: well my lovelies the next chapter is the last so expect much suspense and other such things in this instalment! Warnings remain (shockingly) the same and I still own only dear Orito and the plot.

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The van is precisely where the kidnapper had informed them it would be, its rear doors opened out in what is the most obvious trap he had ever seen.

Aware, however, of the stakes he does not hesitate in crossing over the threshold of the van and settling onto the cool metal of the floor.

After a minuet the doors swing closed and he is plunged completely into darkness.

Yet it is only when he feels the rumble of the engine sparking into life that he sends the Tree the signal and, drawing upon the plant's vast magical reserve, pulls both the van and its occupants into a Maraboshi.

"I believe that you will find that your engines are now unnecessary."

"What have you done?"

"I am simply making you work for your 'prize'."

"We shall activate the spell!"

"Do you believe such a thing truly concerns me? I am, after all, the Sakurazukamori." For a brief moment he believes the bluff shall not work and then one of the kidnappers enquires,

"If that child is meaningless to you then why are you here?"

"I wished to meet the men who believed they could ensnare one such as myself." He smiles as he says these words and, drawing further upon the Tree's reserve he begins his 'game'.

………………………………………………………………………………

Once he feels the tug from the Tree that signals that Orito has begun with the 'distraction', he fades into invisibility and walks the short distance into the centre of the area that Subaru had indicated.

It takes him an hour to locate the cellar in which the child is being held, by which point the Trees' magical reserve has depleted enough that he is having to rely solely upon his own reserve in order to maintain his invisibility.

He knows well what such a thing will mean for the integrity of the illusion that Orito has woven about himself and yet, with time pressing as it is, he can not let himself become distracted by this matter.

A swift kick to the cellar door quickly dispatches with the lock upon it and, once his eyes have become accustomed to the dark, he is met with the recumbent figure of the child he has come to save.

His window of opportunity is growing smaller by the minuet and yet he can not simply snatch the child away, both because of the magical trap that is, despite the fact that he can not see it, still lies about the child and because he is not, as yet, certain of the other's physical condition.

Thus, bringing his body back into visibility, he steps as close to the child as he dares and, bending to his knees, he calls the other's name.

For a moment he gains no response and then the child's eyelids tighten, then open to expose eyes that, but for their colour, recall to him those that had graced Subaru's face when he had been younger.

"Are you death?" The child enquires, the words oddly emotionless despite their serious subject matter.

"For some I am, Kizuki-san and yet I am not as such for yourself."

"Then why are you here?"

"To save you."

"Why?"

"Because my son would not forgive me if I allowed you to die."

"Your son…do you mean Orito-san?"

"That is correct."

"Then I am not dreaming?"

"I am afraid not." He allows the child a moment to process this information and then he enquires, "Can you see the spell that surrounds you?"

"Yes."

"Is there a way that I can pull you from it without activating it?"

"No."

"Then might you be able to make it visible for me?"

"So that you can take it apart"

"That is correct."

"I will try."

………………………………………………………………………………

The fatigue he feels is a clear sign that he has reached the limits of his own magical reserves and he knows that it can only be a little while longer before the Tree has also reached its limits.

Now would, of course, be the perfect time to cut his losses and flee, yet he can not be 100 percent certain that his father has had time enough to free Kamui and, unwilling to risk the child's safety, he remains where he is.

But a minute later both his illusion and his Maraboshi fades.

The kidnapper he had seen in his 'dream' regards him a moment and, an insincere smile on his lips, he remarks,

"It was a trick."

"Indeed."

"Then the child…"

"Is back where he belongs."

"I see." There is a moment where he believes this shall be it, that the kidnaper shall simply flee, and then the other remarks, "It seems we have nothing left to loose."

A borage of magical attacks strike across his body and he watches, immobile, as his blood splashes onto the tarmac beneath his feet.

With even a small amount of energy he might be able to deflect the attacks, might even be able to breach through the shields that the kidnapers have set about themselves.

As it is…

As it is he can do little more than wait for one of their blows to kill him.

"Are you simply going to give up?" That is Sumeragi-san and, turning his head to the left, he can just see the other out of the corner of his eye, the white trench coat he is wearing billowing about him almost as wings.

"It's the only choice left."

"Is that so?" The figure steps out before him then and, his body tensing, he furls the kidnapers into a fight.

After another minuet Sumeragi-san emerges victorious and, drawing his eyes level to his own, he remarks, "There is always another way," before he offers Orito his hand.

They walk a while in silence and then Sumeragi-san informs him,

"I was very rude to you when we first met and I wish you to forgive me for that…wish you also to forgive me for leaping to conclusions about the sort of person you were."

"You had reason."

"I had reason to be angry at your father, Sakurazuka-kun, not at you."

"I have treated Kamui precisely as father treated you…"

"That is not true."

"No?"

"No. Apart from one lie you have given Kamui nothing but the truth...have trusted him with the heart and the soul of you…"

"Yet that one lie is enough."

Sumeragi-san smiles at that and brushing the hair from his face, he remarks,

"That thought alone proves how sincere you are in your friendship with Kamui."

"Do you think that he shall accept me once I have told him the truth?"

"I believe there is only one way to find out."

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T: Bit of a short chapter, but it was either two small last chapters or one giant one and, as I wished to draw things out a little, I chose this way! Next instalment tomorrow. R+R


	13. Future

13. Future.

T: This is the last chapter people and though I will be putting a sequel of sorts up on my blog in the next week or so there is a natural conclusion to this! I apologise for the late update, I did have it done for Tuesday but I kept getting an error each time I tried to upload it! For those interested I'm going to be putting up a few more images on my old blog (link in my bio). Anyway…warnings remain the same and I still own only the plot and dear sweet Orito.

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She believes she shall never tire of the unique smell of her son's skin.

"Perhaps you should let him go now, pet." Her husband remarks, the smile on his lips the only indication that he is joking.

"A mother is allowed to smother her child once in a while, is she not?"

"That's true enough, sweet, but I suspect that you are aggravating his injuries."

Leasing her grip upon the child she presses a soft kiss to the bandages visible about his torso and, a tentative smile on her lips, she enquires,

"I'm not hurting you am I, love?"

"Maybe you could hug me a little less tightly, mama."

"Do you hear that, Sei-chan? My whole family is turning against me."

"I believe they may have a point, Hokuto-chan."

She is thinking of a suitable retort to this 'insult' when an orderly steps into the room and, after giving them all the once over, bends to whisper something into Seishiro's ear.

The older man nods and the orderly steps back out into the hallway.

"What was that about?"

"He wished to know if another patient might also be allowed to use this room."

"But why ask you…oh…how bad is he?"

"Better than might be expected." This last is Subaru whom has, at some point, come to stand in the doorway. "How are you, Kamui?" He enquires as he comes to stand next to her.

"I'm feeling much better than I did earlier, though my ribs are still aching a little and the plaster on my face is itching…"

"In other words he too is better than had been expected." She remarks, her words cutting her child off before he begins to list the small aliments that niggle at him still.

There is a moment of silence and then Kamui's new roommate is being wheeled towards the empty bed to the child's right.

The boy recognises the individual almost the instant he is set onto the mattress and, the very moment that he does as such, he is struggling to be free of his bed.

The gentle pressure of his brother's hand upon his wrist stops him before he can even shake off the covers and the twins spend a moment simply looking at one another before Fuuma remarks,

"You will hurt yourself if you try to move so severely so very soon."

"But Orito-san is hurt."

"There is nothing you can do to change that fact, Kamui-nii."

"Perhaps not but at least I can be with him when he wakes up…"

"Are you not with him now?"

"Yes and yet it is not the same thing."

"Perhaps not and yet I believe it will be enough."

……………………………………………………………………………

He is aching in every possible place when he awakes, something that is further aggravated by the solid nature of the mattress that sits beneath his spine.

He shuffles a little in an attempt to ease this ache and a tentative voice enquires,

"Are you awake, Orito-san?"

If he lifts his head just a little from his pillow he can make out the shape of Kamui's face, the stark white of a padded plaster clear upon the child's left cheek and a residue fear clear in the child's eyes.

"You have been hurt."

"As have you." There is an accusation clear in the child's tone and he barely has time to form a reply when the other enquires, "Why did you lie to me about needing to see Takumura-san?"

"Because I needed time to think, Kamui-kun…because I did not ask you about the Sakurazukamori simply out of curiosity." The child takes a hard rasping breath and, an uncertainty clear now in his voice, he enquires,

"Did you ask because you are tied to that individual?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"The Sakurazukamori is my father."

"Then you shall one day take up the role?"

"That is correct."

There is a long moment of silence and he can not but think that his greatest fear has come to pass…can not but think that the child has rejected him simply for the sake of his blood.

Then he is enveloped into a tight hug and the child's voice is remarking,

"There is no need to be scared, Orito-san; I will never leave your side."

"Even though I am destined to be your enemy?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, Kamui-kun." He remarks as he returns the child's embrace.

……………………………………………………………………………

The interviewer adjusts her glasses and, glancing momentarily at her notes, she enquires,

"What of your family, Kizuki-san?"

"Both my children have grown up big and strong since the 'trouble' eight years ago and are living their lives very well indeed…

"Fuuma is currently helping look after orphans in Ebusu. It's a perfect job for him and one that he loves with a passion.

"Kamui has chosen to continue his studies at the Clamp campus, a decision that I suspect was based heavily upon the fact that Orito-kun has recently gained a teaching position within the campus.

"My brother is still head of the Clan but, what with the changing social climate, he gets less work than he used to. He's upset, of course, but he's spending his free time touring Japan with Sei-chan so it's not all bad.

"Lastly my dear husband has just moved his practice into larger premises and has turned his mind to giving psychiatric care to those who can not afford it."

"A noble cause."

"I told him that myself just last week and he replied, 'I do this because I believe it a necessity not to gain glory or ignominy.' But that's Kakyo, modest to the last!"

"Well I believe that's it, Kizuki-san and I must thank you again for sparing your time to talk to me and I must say that I'm looking forward to your spring line with bated breath."

"I promise that it'll be worth the wait."

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T: Yep that's it people…as I say there is a sort of sequel being released on my blog (the reasons for which I've stated over there) so go have a look if you want! Otherwise thanks for reading and I'll see you soon!


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